List of references to Back to the Future (Television)
This page is for references to the Back to the Future trilogy in television. 3rd Rock from the Sun * In the episode "The House That Dick Built", Harry is seen reading the Tales From Space comic. Alvin and the Chipmunks Go To the Movies *In the episode "Back to Our Future", Alvin, Simon and Theodore travel in a time machine back to 1957 when their group recorded their first song, and the 1950's Chipmunks take their places in the 1990. Although the 1990 Chipmunks' slang and singing are seen as strange in the 1950's, the 1957 Chipmunks don't want to leave 1990, until a "Battle of the Bands" between the two groups convinces them they belong in their own time periods. American Dad! * One episode is called, "DeLorean Story-An", which focuses on two DeLoreans and a race between Stan Smith and another DeLorean owner who is in search of a gull-wing driver's door to complete their unfinished DeLoreans. The voice actor of the rival DeLorean owner is actually a man who has built a replica of the time-traveling DeLorean and made a Marty McFly 1985 costume. Ironically, throughout the episode Stan built the DeLorean because he is a fan of their automotive design and has never seen Back to the Future, ''thus he fails to get everyone else's jokes, such as a state trooper who cautions him not to speed and remarks "you got all the time in world anyway, you're in a time machine!" *In the episode "Fart-Break Hotel" Steve travel through the time with his mind.He wants to travel back to 1981 to meet a girl from a painting, and wakes up dressed as Marty McFly. While Steve was asleep, the picture was drawn, and upon returning to the present, Steve sees that HE the person in the drawing, having changed history. American Dragon * In Episode 33 a Sharkwoman barfs out a California ''OUTATIME registration plate. Arthur * In the twelfth season episode, "On This Spot", Francine and Buster were riding on hover scooters which resemble Mattel hoverboards. Also, Arthur Read mentions "1885" on the Sitting Bull performed by Buffalo Bill in Mill Creek. The Colbert Report * On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert is said to "believe Back to the Future is a documentary". Community *In Episode 201 "Anthropology 101", Abed wakes up in his room, where a Back to the Future Part II teaser poster can be seen. His first words are "And we're back." *In Episode 204 "Basic Rocket Science", Abed places a cardboard box around him like a vehicle and an image of a flux capacitor and "1.21 gigawatts" can be seen drawn on the back sheet. *In Episode 205 "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples", Abed compares Jesus Christ to "Edward Scissorhands and Marty McFly combined". Chuck *In the episode "Chuck Versus the Gravitron", before the Thanksgiving dinner, Morgan tells Ellie that Chuck Bartowski would come walking right through the front door, and at that moment it happens. Wondering what else might come throu gh the door, he wishes for a "flying DeLorean". *Two episodes later, the title of the episode is "Chuck Versus the DeLorean," and the car features prominently in the plot. *In the episode "Chuck Versus the Ring", Jeffster gets on stage at Ellie's wedding, and before playing "Mr. Roboto," Jeff tells one of the band members to "watch me for the changes", just like Marty did before playing "Johnny B. Goode" in Back to the Future. *The ending of "Chuck Versus the Third Dimension" (Episode 12/Season 2) cuts to a screen of a "To Be Continued" card in the fashion of Back to the Future's. Danny Phantom *In the cartoon Danny Phantom episode "Double Cross My Heart," a scene in a bookstore shows a book by George McFly. If Danny's voice sounds similar to that of Marty McFly from the animated series, it's because David Kaufman has done both roles. Desperate Housewives *An episode of DH shows Felicity Huffman's character's oldest son reading the Tales From Space comic on their couch. Drawn Together *In the episode "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist", when the producer fires up his helicopter, it makes the "time circuits on" sound. *In the episode "Captain Girl", Wooldoor Sockbat takes off in a time traveling car called the Wooldelorean. Right after the car disappears leaving fire trails, another Sockbat, clad in Western gear, runs up behind where the car was, then fades out of existence. When Wooldoor arrives at his destination, the car is covered in ice, just as it was after making its first time travel trip in the first movie. He also runs over a male and female Sockbat, implying that their deaths erased the first Sockbat. *In the episode "A Tale of Two Cows", Toot Braunstein attends a dance called the Enchantment Under the Seafood dance, a reference to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in the first film. *In the episode "The Drawn Together Clip Show", clips from past episodes are featured which are displayed with fake airdates which represent some historical or cultural event. One clip is stamped with the date November 5, 1955, the date of Marty's first time travel trip. Doctor Who *In the episode "The Shakespeare Code", while trying to explain to Martha how the whole world could end in 1599, if they don't stop the Carrionites, the Doctor tells Martha how the situation is changeable, "like in Back to the Future." Martha incredulously asks "The film?" The Doctor sarcastically replies "No, the novelization. Yes, the film!" *In the Doctor Who spinoff audio "The Kingmaker," the Doctor's companion, Peri, uses Doc Brown's method of sending a letter into the future, mentioning she got the idea "from a film." The idea is reused (and spoofed) throughout the story. *In the episode "Blink", Sally Sparrow gets a message delivered to her by her best friend's grandson. The message reads that she has been transported back to 1920, and is reminiscent of the one Marty receives at the end of Part II. The Fairly OddParents! *In the episode "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker", after Timmy Turner time-travels to the 1980's, the DeLorean time machine is seen. In the same episode, it is revealed that the worst day of Mr. Crocker's life, when he loses his godparents, happened March 15, 1972, one year before Biff shot George McFly in Part II. *In the episode "Moooving Day", Timmy gets on a Segway, he turns it on and it displays stuff on a screen. The last thing it shows before he moves is Flux Capacitor with a graph under it. *In the episode "Land Before Timmy," the gang is stuck in prehistoric times and the fairies' wands are out of power. Wanda says that the wands need "1.21 wish-o-watts (jigowatts) of power. *In the episode "Dread and Breakfast," Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda and Poof come through a portal, into Timmy's room, in the DeLorean, with the flaming tire tracks and everything. However, a portal was never used in any of the films. *At the end of the live-action telefilm adaptation A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, as Timmy, Tootie, and the fairies drive off in their van, it takes off into the sky and flies at the camera the same way the DeLorean did at the end of Part I. Family Guy *In the episode "Perfect Castaway", Peter Griffin builds a time machine out of a DeLorean and intends to travel to the past. He crashes into a wall right after starting the car and gets out. When people run out of the building in flames, Peter says, "Everyone in 1955 was on fire! I never knew that." *In the episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", Peter Griffin remembers his cousin Rufus, who starred in a series of blaxploitation films including "Black to the Future" (said to be "from the people who brought you Caddyblack, Blackdraft, and Black Kramer vs. Kramer"). *In the episode "Meet the Quagmires", Brian draws a sketch on a blackboard that parallel's Doc drawing the timeline with 1985A skewing downward. *Later on in the above mentioned episode, Brian sings "Never Gonna Give You Up" (by Rick Astley) at the country club dance, just like Marty did with "Johnny B. Goode" at the prom in BTTF1. While he is singing, a boy picks up the phone to let his cousin hear, just like the injured band member did, also in BTTF1. *In the episode "Mind Over Murder", Stewie builds a time machine. When someone finds his drawings, they recognize it by noting "A time machine. Sure. Here's where the flux capacitor goes". *In the episode "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", Stewie imagines Doc Brown at the end of the first film telling Marty and Jennifer "something's gotta be done about your kids." However, Doc goes further, telling them that their daughter marries a black man. This news does little to offend Marty, although Doc's racist attitude alienates Marty and Jennifer. *In the episode "Road to Germany", when Brian and Stewie travel back in time to the start of World War II, the familiar light pulse and fire trails are seen, although they have no car. Later, there is a parody of the skateboard chase from the first movie, including use of Alan Silvestri's score, but with Nazis instead of Biff and his gang. The Nazis also crash into manure. *In the episode "Baby Not on Board", Peter rides to school on his skateboard. This is basically a shot-by-shot remake of the scene from BTTF1, including the soundtrack The Power of Love. *In the episode "The Man with Two Brians", Peter wearing the brain-wave analyzer: "It means that this damn thing doesn't work at all!" *In the episode "The Juice is Loose", while Stewie is stuck on the roof, Marty McFly appears, shouting "I have to tell you about the future. On the night I go back-". Stewie interrupts him: "Wait wait wait, no no no, hang on Michael. I have to tell you about your future." *In the episode "Three Kings" (uncut DVD version only), during the re-enactment of Stand by Me (which is also set in the 1950's), Cleve Brown (Cleveland) says: "Whaddaya think about the new kid at school, Marty McFly? Seems like he just showed up out of nowhere." *In the episode "Business Guy", while Peter and Lois watch the video wills of Lois's Dad, Mr. Pewterschmidt, he says "If you're watching this one, it means the train wasn't able to push the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour and I am still stuck in 1885." (BTTF part 3) *In the parody for The Empire Strikes Back, titled "Something, Something, Something Dark Side", Leia says to Luke, "I don't know what it is, but when I kiss you it's like kissing my brother", a line from Back to the Future when Lorraine kisses Marty. Leia and Luke are in fact brother and sister. This line was read as part of a Easter Egg preview of SSSDS in the DVD Commentary for "Blue Harvest". *Also, the ending to "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" is a spinoff of the ending to Back to the Future Part II, when Marty receives the letter from Doc, who was in 1885. The voice of the man who delivers the message was performed by Joe Flaherty, the same actor who played the part of the Western Union man in the movie. *The letter was parodied again in the episode The Big Bang Theory, when Stewie froze himself to the present after becoming trapped in the Renaissance. Stewie sent Brian a letter to tell him where to dig. Flaherty reprised his role once again as the letter's deliverer. *In the episode Internal Affairs Peter has another fight with the giant chicken. At one point during their fight, they go back in time via Stewie's time machine to 1885 where they ultimately end up on the DeLorean which is currently driven by Marty and being pushed to time travel velocity by the steam train (identical to the climax of the third movie) and en route back to the present. Friday Night Lights *In one episode, the characters are watching Back to the Future on a television. Get a Life *In the episode "1977 2000" Chris is idly wondering which of many options for time travel he should use to fix his friend Gus' past. One of the potential time machines he considers is his friend Steve's DeLorean, but he decides not to use it because the left blinker is out, and a hand signal at that speed would ruin his Lee Press-On nails. Instead, Chris chooses to make a drink he calls "time juice", and one of the ingredients is a lock of Michael J. Fox's hair. Glenn Martin, DDS *In the episode "Amish Anguish", when the Martins are leaving the Amish town, Glenn says "Jackie, let's take this thing up to 88mph. We're going back to the future!", after which the RV leaves a trail of fire and the license plate spinning, imitating the Delorean Time Machine's first travel. Heroes '' makes another appearance.]] *In the episode "Genesis", Hiro exclaims that he has broken the "time/space continuum" *In the episode "Six Months Ago", Hiro, while in the past in Texas, attempts to call Ando Masahashi back in Japan. However, Ando is not there and instead he speaks with his past self on the phone. When he realizes this, he hangs up to prevent a paradox and exclaims Doc's catchphrase, "Great Scott!" *In the episode "Better Halves", when D.L. and Micah are looking at comic books at the kitchen table, one of the comics is Tales From Space. This is the same comic as the one held by Sherman Peabody, the farmer's son in Back to the Future, who mistook the DeLorean for a spaceship when Marty first arrived in 1955. *In the episode "Hiros", Future Hiro again references the space-time continuum. *In the episode "Homecoming", a student at Union Wells High School reads Tales From Space. *In the episode "Godsend", Nathan meets Hiro in Isaac's apartment. During their conversation, Nathan says "Look I can't believe I'm about to say this... you, you... teleported here, back from the future?" *In the episode "Parasite", Hiro uses a computer in Linderman's archives to find the Kensei sword. The computer indicates the sword's catalog number is CRM-114. In Back to the Future, the amplifier in Doc's garage is a CRM-114 amplifier (which in turn was a reference to Dr. Strangelove) *In the episode "Four Months Later", after the village of Otsu is burned, Hiro tells Takezo Kensei that he, Ando and the world as they know it may no longer exist in the future due to his actions. Takezo exclaims, "Great-o Scott!" *On Heroes 360: **In one of Hiro's blog entries, Hiro wishes he could have his own personal Dr. Emmett Brown for guidance. **After riding in a limo, Hiro lists "a De Lorean going at 88 miles per hour" as one of the things he still needs to ride. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show *When the family travels back in time to the old west, Wayne Szalinski is asked his name by the town's inhabitants, to which he replies "John Wayne". When his wife Diane gives him a look of disbelief, he asks that if Marty could be Clint Eastwood in Back to the Future Part III, why could he not be John Wayne? Diane remembers the film, and mentions that she didn't like it. Johnny Bravo *One of the "Johnny Bravo" logos shown, just as the theme song starts, is a spoof of the Back to the Future logo, complete with backward-pointing arrow. Johnny Test *In the episode "Old School Johnny", Johnny (who is voiced by James Arnold Taylor) and his two sisters travel back in time to 1845, and discover they don't have a power source to return them home. After several attempts, at generating enough energy, fail (including lightning striking a clock tower, and using a speeding locomotive), they are able to return home. Johnny then discovers, when he fails his history test in school, that they had changed their town's history. The King of Queens *In the episode entitled "Nocturnal Omission," Kevin James's character, Douglas, finds out from his wife that the wife of his friend Deacon is planning to move back to New Jersey, and reunite with Deacon after two years of separation. Deacon had been rather depressed over the separation, but when Douglas goes to tell Deacon the good news to lift his spirits, he finds Deacon very happy to have recently met a stewardess from London who wanted to come over that night. Douglas decides not to tell Deacon about the wife's impending return, and goes back home, where Douglas's wife confronts him when she finds out that he didn't tell Deacon the news. In the argument, Douglas states that they have no right to go back in time and change destiny and adds "If we learned anything from Back to the Future, it's that!" Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman *In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a flux capacitor is mentioned by H.G. Wells when repairing his time machine. Lost *In the episode "The Constant," Desmond's consciousness repeatedly time travels between his 2004 (the present) self and his 1996 self. The 2004 version of Daniel Faraday tells Desmond to seek out his 1996 counterpart for further instruction, and gives Desmond a series of equations to convince 1996-Daniel that he is from the future, in the same manner that Marty convinces Doc Brown. *In the fifth season, several characters physically time travel to 1977. Hurley checks his hand in the same manner as Marty, because he fears his actions will somehow erase him from existance. An agitated Miles explains that time travel in their universe does not work the same way as Back to the Future. Malcolm in the Middle *In an episode of 'Malcolm in the Middle', Hal cashes in his life insurance policy to spend at Vegas and tells Lois he got a bonus from work for an idea to outsource flux capacitors, saving the boss a lot of money. MAD *In the episode "TransBOREmores 3: Dark of the Blue Moon/The Walking Fred", one of the things listed on the portal list was 1955, which is a reference to the first movie in the trilogy. *In the episode "Frost/Undercover Clause", a Flux Capacitor can be seen in both of the time machines in one of the show's sketches. *In the episode "Betty White & the Huntsman/Ancient Greek MythBusters", Perseus uses the DeLorean Time Machine to travel and spends time on a hoverboard in the 2015 Hill Valley. *In the episode "Men in Black to the Future/Pokémon of Interest", Back to the Future gets spoofed along with Men in Black 3. *In the Spy vs. Spy sketch in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Icarus/Adjustment Burro", the Black Spy uses the DeLorean Time Machine to alter the past in order to defeat the White Spy. Monster Garage *In one episode, Jesse and his crew attempted to build a hovercraft topped with the frame of a DeLorean. The vehicle was not a success, and was crushed by an Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) at the end of the episode, not too dissimilar from the destruction of the time machine at the end of Back to the Future Part III. In truth, the night before the wrecking, the parts had been traded out for scrap ones. Muppet Babies *In one episode, Gonzo imagines he's driving the DeLorean time machine. The episode has similarities to the film, where the Babies accidentally spill hot chocolate on a 1955 picture of Nanny when she worked as a carhop waitress, so they figure they ought to travel back to 1955 to take a replacement picture. Their replacement picture actually turns out to be a reenactment of Piggy serving Kermit in a car, but Nanny appreciates their thoughtfulness and adds it to her 1950s collection, and reveals she was able to save the original photo from damage. The outro scene shows Gonzo wearing a radiation suit, and having wild hair very similar to that of Doc Brown. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic *In the 15th episode of Season 2 "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," Flim accuses Granny Smith of being a chicken. Granny Smith has a similar reaction to what Marty McFly has when people call him a chicken. Mythbusters *In Episode 105 (Viral Hour) of the seventh season, Adam mentions a hoverboard as a future test. *Adam apologizes for the crudity of his models as he has not had time to make them to scale or to paint them. The Office *In the Season 2 episode "Valentine's Day," Michael Scott makes a video presentation for a corporate meeting. At the end of the video, a logo flashes up that reads "Great Scott Productions" and a voice says "Great Scott!" Phineas and Ferb *In the episode "It's About Time!", Candace asks, "You mean to tell me, you built a time machine that has to be plugged in?!", which references the BTTF line "Are you telling me you built a time machine.. out of a DeLorean?" *The episode "Journey to the Bottom of Buford" focuses on the kids retrieving Buford's pet goldfish, named Biff. The fish's name and Buford's possibly refer to Biff and Buford. *In the episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted", Phineas and Ferb change their mother's station wagon into a flying car entitled "Flying Car of the Future Today". Later on that episode, Candace drives that car, and the Back To The Future theme song can be heard. *In the episode "Phineas and Ferb's Quatom Boogaloo", when they use the time machine and travel to the future, they see flying cars. When they go inside Candace's future house, the door automatically opens and Phineas says "The Future", similar to what Marty McFly does when he visits 2015. Pokémon *One episode of Pokémon was titled "Xatu the Future"; a play on Back to the Future and the Pokémon Xatu. *The sound effect that is used for the DeLorean entering one time period from another (three bursts of energy), from the first experiment, at Twin Pines Mall, can be heard in multiple episodes, often when dealing with electrical attacks. The sound of the DeLorean revving its engine, shortly before it's revealed in the first film, can be heard in the episode "Arriving In Style". Some episodes also use the Star Wars sound effect for a lightsaber emitting the light blade. *In the episode titled "Battle For The Underground!", Cilan notes that the ghost train will loop out of control and Ingo says "precisely", which may be a reference to Back to the Future II. Raising Hope *In January 2013, in Season 3, the series ran a Back to the Future-themed episode ("Credit Where Credit is Due") featuring Christopher Lloyd. Red vs. Blue The 6th episode of the machinima production, Red vs. Blue, is titled "1.21 Giga-whats" Regular Show *In the episode "Skips vs. Technology", Skips rides in a Delorean. *In The Episode "Crusin" there was a mall called the "Twin Beaks Mall", a parody of "Twin Pines Mall" Robot Chicken *In the episode titled "PS, Yes In That Way" (ep. 406, Jan 11, 2009), there was a scene with Marty and Doc. Saturday Night Live Michael J. Fox was the host for the episode of March 16, 1991, and the subject of a skit http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90omono.phtml based on the recently completed trilogy. The premise: Fox is giving the opening monologue, and the jokes are terrible. Doc Brown (played by Kevin Nealon) rushes in and shouts "Michael! Michael! Don't do it!" Doc is accompanied by Michael "from 90 minutes in the future!" (played by Dana Carvey), and they warn Fox that the show will be terrible, which will cause a chain reaction which will ultimately ruin Fox's acting career. The three of them leave the stage and (with the help of an animated DeLorean) arrive at NBC Studios a week earlier, to warn the earlier Michael (played by David Spade) not to do the show. Lorne Michaels does not know what to make of this, particularly not after seeing three Michaels, and remarks "I do not know who to give this gigantic bag of money to". The sight of a giant comical money sack convinces Doc and three Michaels to accept fate and do the show, so they fly back to March 16 in the DeLorean. The monologue ends with Fox, Carvey and Spade saying in unison "We've got a great show! Black Crowes are here, so stick around, we'll be right back! The Simpsons *In the episode E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt), Homer is worrying about a duel the next morning whilst looking at a tombstone with his own name on it. *In the episode That 90's Show, the scene, where "Marvin Cobain" calls his cousin Kurt to tell him about the new sound he's "been looking for", is a parody of the scene where "Marvin Berry" makes a similar call to his cousin Chuck. *The title of the episode "Bart to the Future" is an obvious reference to Back to the Future Smallville *In the Smallville episode Reckoning, Clark re-lives one day twice. When he explains this to his friend Chloe, she says "Hold on, McFly!", before asking him to give her the full details of the experience. South Park *In the episode "Goobacks," humans from the future time-travel to the present. Their time-travel method is declared to follow "Terminator rules, that is it's one way only and you can't go back. This is in contrast to, say, Back to the Future rules, where back-and-forth is possible, and of course Timerider rules, which are just plain silly." Stargate Atlantis *In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep", Major Sheppard brings up the DeLorean in a discussion about time travel, to which Dr. McKay responds, "Do not get me started on that movie!" Later, when they find out about a time-travelling puddle jumper, Sheppard calls its added component the "flux capacitor." Stargate SG-1 *In the Stargate SG-1 episode "200", when Carter reels off a string of technobabble to explain why the gate isn't working, Martin Lloyd mishears "capacitors" as "flux capacitor." Stargate Universe *In season 1 episode 7, Eli Wallace talks about his top 5 movies and mentions Back To The Future. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine *In the episode "What You Leave Behind," Miles O'Brien jokes about leaving the station to teach at Starfleet Academy because "somebody has to teach you officers the difference between a warp matrix flux capacitor and a self-sealing stem bolt." Star Trek: The Next Generation *In the episode "Hollow Pursuits," a component of antigravity unit was called a "flux capacitor." *In the episode "Sub Rosa", a grave on the Caldos Colony planet belongs to "McFly." Star Trek: Voyager *In the episode "Prototype", B'Elanna states "I'm going to try to adjust the flux capacitance." Supernatural *In the episode "Back to the Future II", when Dean Winchester gets back to the year 1978, he tells the angel Castiel to send him back in time. Castiel answers that "that's too hard, even for an angel", and Dean replies, "So what, you're like a DeLorean with no plutonium ?" Spin City *Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reunite in an episode entitled "Back to the Future Part IV: Judgement Day", which aired February 23, 1999. **In the episode, Lloyd plays Mike's old political mentor who claimed to be the son of God. This episode had several references to time, and the film trilogy for which both of them are remembered; for instance, when they greet at the start of the show Fox remarks "It's just like stepping back in time." Lloyd then tells Fox: "The past is prologue, Michael. Men like us have got to keep looking.... to the future". Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends *In Hero of the Rails, Hiro said to Thomas "That's a very long story." which was the same sentence what Marty uses. *In the episode, Toby's New Whistle, Toby's bell is broken, and as there are none spare, he has to make do with a whistle instead. Toby is even more put off when James explains that it is a very loud 3-chime steam whistle (which is the same whistle as Locomotive 131), as the old tram engine hates loud noises. Tiny Toon Adventures *In an episode of Animaniacs, Plucky Duck learns to perform a flashback, and flashes back to the era of World War II, then to prehistoric times, along with Buster Bunny. Buster replies to the situation with "You shouldn't mess around with time too much. Remember what happen in '''Back To the Future'?"'' His reply also happens to be a reference to a previous episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, "A Ditch in Time". True Jackson V.P. *In the Season 1 episode "ReTRUEnion," Ryan is trying to prove that a computer technician (who uses gibberish so people will think he is real) is a fraud. When the "technician" says "If I didn't know about computers, would I know how to rewire a flux capacitor?", Ryan replies "That's from Back to the Future!" Category:Lists Category:BTTF culture